Q: I feel afraid at times whether I will be enlightened. What should I do?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Once you are on the train, you know that this train will reach. Suppose you are sitting in a car and this car is being driven to Karlsruhe, you don’t ask after every minute if you are going to Karlsruhe, no! You relax! You know the driver is going to take you to Karlsruhe. You won’t be dropped somewhere in the middle. That much of faith that comes from within you is there in you; otherwise, you would not even come here. The very fact that you have come here indicates that there is faith. Otherwise your heart would block you, but your heart says, ‘no, go there’. That means you are doing the right thing. So once you are here, you relax.Relax and you will always find your life will move in the right direction. Not just here, life after this also, definitely, because the moment we die, the first person we meet is our Guru, our teacher, second person we meet is our mother and then the person whom we loved most. The three people we meet and then later on we meet everybody else. So there will be that assurance, you will be fine, you are moving ahead, so don’t worry.Arjuna also had this doubt in the Bhagvad Gita, “what will happen to me? He was in the same pain, I may not succeed in these spiritual practices, I may not go anywhere, what will happen to my life, I will be neither enjoying anything here nor will I get the other world. I’ll get confused, I’ll go back into the same stuff in my world, Krishna what do I do then?”Krishna says “Nahi Kalyana Krit Kaschit Durgatim Taata Gachchati”. My dear you will never go down, you will never be miserable, I guarantee you this. You will never go down in life, and you will only go up. When you have done good things in your life, when you are on this path, in this knowledge, you will only progress forward and forward. You will only go up in life here and here after. He says ‘svalpa mapyasya dharmasya trayate’, a little bit of knowledge, a little bit of love, a little bit of dharma, little bit of it is good enough to take you away from fear. So relax. That is why it is said you need a teacher on the spiritual path, you need a Guru, and you need a personal feeling, connectedness from your side, not from the other side. Why? Because otherwise you have the anguish, uncertainty, fear, but once you have that feeling when you have the trust, ‘okay my Guru is there, he will guide me, he’ll take me on the right path then you are relaxed’. And there is that peace that dawn in your heart and mind. Even if you stumble a little bit here and there, doubts may come, but then they just vanish, they just come for a few hours, at the most for a couple of days, and then they disappear. So there is that assurance that you are not alone. See how soon the tears are turning into a smile!

/*Q:* After death, does the soul retain any of the senses?*Sri Sri:* Yes. It is very interesting. After death, the soul retainsthe sight, smell and hearing. Touch and taste will go. The sight, smelland hearing are not retained for ever, but for about eight to ten days.Then the soul goes into a deep state of rest. /

/*Q:* Guruji, how do you know this?*Sri Sri:* Those who have known themselves know this. You know, it isall in the consciousness. Also this has been recorded in the ancienttexts by scholars. /

/*Q:* What to do if you have a boss who doesn't recognize yourcontributions?*Sri Sri:* Just smile. /

/*Q:* Guruji, why do so many innocent people suffer in man-made andnatural disasters?*Sri Sri:* It makes you wonder about whether there is a God or not,doesn't it? More than five hundred people in Bombay this week... Yousimply have to wonder. You know, you should think about how we canchange the bad people into good people. We have to think constructively. /

/It is also nature's way of telling us to have compassion. Withoutmisery there would be no compassion, is it not? In Africa millions ofchildren cannot afford a square meal. In Washington DC, fifty percent ofschool children drop out and go into violence. What can we do? How toreinstate goodness and faith in non-violence? /

/Non-violence is the first limb of yoga. The second limb is truth. Whydo we lie? It is because of our fear of losing our reputation and oflosing others love. You know why spouses lie to each other? Because ifthey tell the truth, there will be a fight! When there is a conflictbetween love and truth, love always wins, that is why spouses lie. /

/Yogas limbs are non-violence and truth, but yoga also leads tonon-violence and truth. See we have done lots of good work in prisons,and in places like Israel, Kashmir... Is Dafna here? We have beenteaching in Tel Aviv, and also in the prisons in Israel. And in Iraq.Recently 43 people, mostly women and some men also, were in theBangalore ashram. They took training for eight weeks, and now they aregoing back to Iraq to teach various yoga and meditation. /

/*Q:* What is dharma?*Sri Sri:* Dharma is more than just duty. It is that which uplifts you.Serving, etc. It is that which is your inherent nature. /

/*Q:* Guruji, you said earlier that the ego is useful for action. Is itpossible to act without ego?*Sri Sri:* Yes. An enlightened person will act without any ego. /

/See, praising a wise person is useless. They will anyway do good work.They will continue doing good work even if you blame them. Praise a fool-- that will pump up their ego and motivate them into doing good work.Have you noticed, the ego troubles ones own mind more than others? /

/*Q:* Guruji, I have been having bad thoughts throughout this course.*Sri Sri:* That is because of stress, toxins in the blood. Could also bedue to some hormonal imbalance. More cleansing will help. Don't bebothered. The more you grow, the more these negative emotions, angeretc. will be intolerable to you. So it is a good sign. /

/*Q:* (A question on natural disasters)*Sri Sri:* Haan, natural disasters will always happen, no? last year wehad 19 water-related disasters around the world. The year before was fire.*Sri Sri:* Calamities are part of natures work. The ozone layer isgetting depleted, global warming is happening, and so many other things.There is also so much greed. There is an imbalance in the nature. Butmore than that, it is the stress causing man-made calamities. Terrorismand so on. That is why it is so important to continue doing yoga,meditation, pranayamas, satsang, to uplift the consciousness. And alsoto teach all these practices to more people. Don't you think so?(Applause.) /

/*Q:* Is it possible to attain enlightenment while having physical blocksin the spine?*Sri Sri:* Why not? Ashtavakra had eight deformities in his body, and hewas enlightened. /

/*Q:* Guruji, you are our role model.*Sri Sri:* But I model all your roles! /

/*Q:* Guruji, who is dearest to you: a sadhak, devotee or an enlightenedperson?*Sri Sri:* Just you! /

/*Q:* Why do more enlightened masters seem to hail from India thenanywhere else?*Sri Sri:* It is just a question of time. At this particular time manymasters have come from India. At another time many masters came from themiddle east. And at one time many saints were from Europe. See at onetime there were many scientists only from the west. Merchants were fromEurope. Earlier at one time there were also many saints in China. Why ismaple found only in Canada? We don't know! Or bulls in Texas. But itdoesn't belong only to that place. Knowledge and wisdom belong to theentire universe. /

/*Q:* Guruji, I am very attached to you, but at the same time we do thisprocess of bowing down to the angels to rid ourselves of attachment. Howshould I reconcile this? Someone from the crowd: Even the angels areattached to him.*Sri Sri:* Yeah! /

/*Q:* I have noticed that all my botherations are due to theinconsiderate actions of other people. My mind immediately jumps toresentment, judgment, etc. How do I make my mind unshakeable? How do Ibecome accepting of myself and all?*Sri Sri:* Once you have recognized the situation in the mind, you arealready out of it! You just say, I am going to stand up and smile. /

/*Q:* How to love somebody you hate the most?*Sri Sri:* First just accept that person. Just accept that they areincorrigible and will never change. Then understand that they are avictim themselves, of their circumstances and their ignorance.Compassion is the next step. See, step by step we have 1, 2, 3.Acceptance, understanding and love. /

/*Q:* What is the difference between skill and manipulation?*Sri Sri:* Good question. In manipulation, the intentions are not thatgood. There is viciousness behind the action. In skill the intentionsare clear and good. Manipulation leaves you with a guilty feeling. Itwill pinch you. When you are using your skill your conscience is clear.With manipulation there is dishonesty. You are dishonest to yourself andto the other person. When you are using skill there is honesty. And onlyyou can know the difference! Others can't. /

/*Q:* What is the difference between sacrifice and service?*Sri Sri:* In sacrifice someone else's happiness is more important thanour own. /

/*Q:* Does nature always guide us? If I miss the bus on the way to aninterview, should I take a cab or look for another job?*Sri Sri:* Take a cab to the interview, and if you don't get the job,look for another one! /

/*Q:* How to handle financial burden?*Sri Sri:* First of all, don't think it is a burden. Have the confidencethat you can make it happen. Burden brings worry, and that will killyour creativity. /

/*Q:* Why must people talk all the time? Even in your divine presence?*Sri Sri:* I don't know! I have the same question. Here when satsang isgoing on, people sit and talk. I don't know what they are talking about.When satsang is happening we should all sit and sing together, no? Allthe minds come together. /

/*Q:* Guruji, can we have Guru Poornima in Tahoe next year?*Sri Sri:* All is possible! /

/[At the Y&M session:]*Sri Sri:* Why do we do yoga? In order to make life more beautiful.Heyam dukham anahatam -- to stop misery from entering our world.Physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. /

/For the body we have asanas. For the mind we have pranayamas, foremotional and mental well-being. Also asanas work on the mind andpranayams on the body -- there are no strict boundaries. Meditationremoves spiritual misery, dejection, darkness and depression. That iswhy yoga, Yogas-chitta- vritti-nirodhaha , it stops the chitta-vritti,or the endless activity of the chitta. /

/And also by singing. Be in satsang, and sing with everyone. /

/Also in chanting -- we will do chanting later today, we will chantsathyam param dhimahi a few times before meditation. It means let theultimate truth dawn in my intellect. Beauty, truth and divinity. It isgood to chant just before meditation. /

/*Q:* Karma vs. free will: how much are we governed by karma and how muchdo we have any free will?*Sri Sri:* You should read Celebrating Silence, its all explained there.Also in the Intimate Note to the Sincere Seeker, the first sheet is onthat topic. /

/*Q:* When the body dies, does the mind go with the soul?*Sri Sri:* Yes. /

/*Q:* How can we change our karma?*Sri Sri:* By experience and wisdom, and some karma you just have toovercome it and work through it. /

/*Q:* How to raise kids to not lose their innocence?*Sri Sri:* It is good to inculcate human values, love, compassion etc.in children when they are young. It is also important to make themstrong. Should not make them too strong, then they become aggressive. Atthe same time some strength is needed in addition to the innocence,otherwise how will they go through life? Not too strong or innocent.Take the middle path. /

/*Q:**Sri Sri:* See, I consider that every tree in the planet is in mygarden. When the whole world is your family, there can be nohomesickness. Feel always at home -- it is all your attitude. /

/*Q:* Are there any extra-terrestrial beings outside of the earth?*Sri Sri:* Some may consider that I am one! /

/Some people were not happy that in our prayer meeting we did notcondemn the attacks and we took a soft approach. So people wrote aboutus in the papers, are we from another planet or what? /

/Extra-terrestrials are also possible. The universe has many layers ofconsciousness. Have you all seen the silver jubilee video? The one withthe angels in it? We should show it here after some time. /

/When we talk of healing and miracles and all, you know what ourteachers say? We don't believe in miracles, we depend on them!Vismayo-yoga- bhoomika. The preface to yoga is astonishment. Have youwondered how the seeds sprout into giant trees, and how babies are born,or how the planets revolve, and so on? That is wonder. /

/*Q:* Are there any coincidences? /

/*Sri Sri:* Could be -- we cannot rule anything out!/

|| Jai Guru Dev ||

__._,_.___Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a New Topic Messages in this topic (1) Recent Activity: New Members 3 Visit Your Group MARKETPLACEGet great advice about dogs and cats. Visit the Dog & Cat Answers Center.